ABBA Musician Bjorn Ulvaeus Says He's Using AI to Help Write New Musical

ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus is testing nan waters erstwhile it comes to AI-generated music.

Speaking astatine a SXSW London sheet titled The Future of Entertainment connected Wednesday, June 4, nan "Dancing Queen" musician, 80, opened up astir utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to thief him partially constitute a musical.

“It is specified a awesome tool,” Ulvaeus said during nan sheet Wednesday, per nan Hollywood Reporter. “It’s unimaginable that you tin bounce backmost and distant pinch a machine, aliases a software, which tin springiness you ideas to spell successful various different directions.”

Ulvaeus didn't stock circumstantial specifications astir nan euphony he is presently moving on, but he shared that it is astir three-quarters written and clarified that AI was acting arsenic "another songwriter successful nan room," not that it was penning full songs.

“A misconception is that AI tin constitute a full song. It’s lousy astatine that — very bad. And convey God! It’s very bad astatine lyrics arsenic well. But it tin springiness you ideas,” Ulvaeus continued.

“You person written a lyric astir something, and you’re stuck maybe, and you want this opus to beryllium successful a definite style. So you tin punctual nan lyric and nan style you want, asking, ‘Where would you spell from here?’ And it usually comes up pinch garbage, but sometimes location is thing successful it that gives you different idea,” he added. ”That’s really it works.”

Ulvaeus besides cracked a joke, saying that AI would beryllium incapable of penning an ABBA song.

“It says, ‘No, we can’t do that,’” he said, earlier joking that AI is bully for a fewer things — dissimilar his ABBA co-writer Benny Andersson, AI “is quicker and does precisely what you show it.”

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Ulvaeus' thoughts connected AI-generated euphony are arguable ones — astatine slightest compared to different musicians. In April 2024, complete 200 artists banded together to motion an unfastened missive denouncing "AI-music procreation technology" pinch nan thief of the Artists Rights Alliance.

"We, nan undersigned members of nan creator and songwriting communities, telephone connected AI developers, exertion companies, platforms and integer euphony services to cease nan usage of artificial intelligence to infringe upon and devalue nan authorities of quality artists," nan petition began.

"Make nary mistake: we judge that, erstwhile utilized responsibly, AI has tremendous imaginable to beforehand quality productivity and successful a mode that enables nan improvement and maturation of caller and breathtaking experiences for euphony fans everywhere," it continued. "Unfortunately, immoderate platforms and developers are employing AI to sabotage productivity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians and rightsholders."

Billie Eilish, Billy Porter, Brothers Osborne, Camila Cabello, Darius Rucker, FINNEAS, Imagine Dragons, J Balvin, Jonas Brothers, Jon Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, Metro Boomin, Miranda Lambert, Noah Kahan, Norah Jones, Pearl Jam, Sheryl Crow, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and Zayn Malik were among nan galore artists joining together.

Artists specified as Paul McCartney, Dua Lipa, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Sting and Ed Sheeran have besides been vocal astir AI's invading "the imaginative sector" successful a missive to The Times UK successful February this year.

In nan letter, nan musicians based on that location is ”no civilized aliases economical statement for stealing our copyright. Taking it distant will devastate nan manufacture and bargain nan early of nan adjacent generation.”

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However, not each musicians are opposed to nan emerging technology. Zedd argued to PEOPLE past twelvemonth that musicians person been utilizing a type of AI for years, citing euphony softwares that create instrumental sounds from nan push of a button.

"It's conscionable that we haven't branded it 'AI,'" he told PEOPLE amid a business pinch Intel for an AI experience.

"I wouldn't beryllium able, and I would person ne'er been able, to make nan euphony I make if it wasn't for AI," he added. "I'm excited for AI to get much useful, much applicable truthful that I tin scope nan extremity of finishing euphony faster — truthful I don't person to fto group hold different decade for different album."